Department of Education

Drug abuse resistance education

Abstract

Drug Abuse Resistance Education or acronym as D.A.R.E is a well known name in America especially in children of America as it is an attempt carried out by Police force of America to educate and inform school children about drug abuse. As drug abuse is an evil spreading at an increasing rate all over the world and is commonly found in children especially. All questions regarding D.A.R.E are addressed in the following essay.

Every year millions of school children around the world benefit from Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), the highly-praised program aimed to give kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence.

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in 75 percent of the nation's school districts and in more than 43 countries around the world.
According to an estimate over the course of the past three years, well over 220 communities have started new D.A.R.E. programs to evoke knowledge about drug abuse in children of all ages. (Edward T.)
D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peers, colleagues or friends' pressure to use drugs and to live productive drug and violence-free lives. The basic purpose of this program is to encourage children to resist influence of friends to use drugs and raise their voices in negative to indulge in this evil for the sake of fashion.

Existence of D.A.R.E America

D.A.R.E America is a non profit organization that was created to serve as a resource to communities, helping to establish and improve their local D.A.R.E. programs. It provides officer training, supports the development and evaluation of the D.A.R.E. curriculum, provides student educational materials, monitors instruction standards and program results, and creates national awareness for D.A.R.E. Thus it is in their hands to design each and every step that is necessary for the elevation of the program. (Ross M.)

D.A.R.E. a "Cops Oriented" Program

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to be taught by police officers. These police officers are trained before they could lead the program. Prior to entering the D.A.R.E. program, officers undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills. 40 hours of additional training are provided to D.A.R.E. instructors to prepare them to teach the high school curriculum. Thus they are trained and experienced to answer the sophisticated questions often posed by young students about drugs and crime.

D.A.R.E. is universally viewed as an internationally recognized model for prevention of drug abuse in children. The United States Department of Justice identifies D.A.R.E. benefits as:

D.A.R.E. "humanizes" the police: that is, young people can begin to relate to officers as people not as cops only. They perceive them as human beings not models of rules and regulations.
D.A.R.E. permits students to see officers in a helping role, not just an enforcement role. They develop to trust officers and develop the ability to communicate to them in hour of need.
D.A.R.E. opens lines of communication between law enforcement and youth. The youth understands that the enforcement of law through police officers is actually for their benefit.
D.A.R.E. Officers can serve as channel or medium to provide information beyond drug-related topics. Thus increasing knowledge of children about drugs and crimes due to them.
D.A.R.E. opens dialogue between the school, police, and parents to deal with other issues not only on crimes or drugs abuse but also to which they would encounter in their later years.
National D.A.R.E. Day

Since 1988, Presidential Proclamation declares one day each year National D.A.R.E. Day which is celebrated to mark its high achievement and to acknowledge the efforts of the police officers who are involved in its creation, development and success.